Bunny Update

We've been doing a lot of bunny research lately. After Spike-Junie died, and the trauma that it's death caused, I wanted to make sure we were doing all that needed to be done for Cooper and Leslie. Here is the grave marker that Riley made:


We learned about a way to check and see if the Mama Bunny was coming to check on her baby bunnies at night, put a criss-cross shape of grass or dental floss over the nest and if it is disturbed in the morning, that means she visited them. We did that a few nights and sure enough, Mama was coming. But on Monday morning, when I checked, the nest was wide open and the bunny on top looked nice and robust, fluffy fur, eyes starting to open, plump little bunny-tummy. I got this picture of the little guy (already much bigger than the first picture I had taken a few days earlier):


But the bunny underneath him wasn't doing so well. I checked the way I learned online, and no round tummy, in fact, it was very skinny. His skin and fur weren't looking too well, and he was very dehydrated. I hoped Mama would come back that night and feed him extra. But yesterday, when I checked, no Mama, no brother bunny, but there was a partial skeleton of the sick bunny. The bunnies only stay in the nest for about 2 weeks, so I can only hope the other bunny was old enough and healthy enough to join his mother in the wild. Riley did find the bones in the nest and was very distraught, again. He just adored these rabbits and tried so hard to take good care of them. I think he did a great job watching over the nest, making sure they were protected everyday, and he even wanted to put a Mother's Day card out for the Mama Bunny. I have such a sweet boy!